BLOAT. I effing hate hate hate that word. I absolutely HATE being bloated and for some reason, my body is super prone to becoming bloated even after one salty meal. This past week, I've unfortunately been cheating a lot on my diet and as a result, have become bloated like a pregnant lady. But no fears, I refuse to look back and instead choose to be optimistic and focus on the future.
But yes, as a result of eating as much salty fatty yummy foods as I want, I'm feeling incredibly bloated and hate hate hate hate haaaaaaate that feeling. So, for this week, I have some specific fitness/health goals I want to try and adhere to. I will be undergoing a schedule change this week, since (starting Wednesday) I begin night duty in the labor and delivery suite. Not totally excited for the crazy circadian rhythm change, but still excited since I'll get to deliver babies!! But, I'm still going to try and follow these few simple diet rules even through my crazy schedule change in order to reduce bloating and get a fitter, flatter core. I don't bloat as much on my upper/lower body (does anyone?) but when I bloat, my back and my stomach area puff up like crazy. And that's just not very pretty.
1. Water, water, water
By far the best thing to reduce bloat for me is to drink copious amounts of water. I'm hoping to drink 4-5 bottles of my 24oz bottle for the next two days for a total of 96-120 oz of water per day. Crazy! But, this is literally the best thing to fight bloat. After that, I'm probably going to drop back down to drinking 3 bottles per day (72 oz) and try to continue drinking that much each day to prevent bloat in the future.
2. Salt
Next best thing: cut out sodium from my diet. Dropping my sodium intake down to 1500 mg is the best way to lose my bloat. Now, the issue is that eating only 1500 mg of sodium on normal days is kinda impossible. So, after I go back to normal, I'm planning on resuming my 1500-2000 mg sodium regime and this time, strictly adhere to it! No more venturing above the 2000 mg line because that just bloats me right back up.
3. Cardio sweatfest
While drinking water and cutting sodium are the two most crucial things for me to reduce bloat, I will say that exercising also helps. How? Because I sweat like cray cray when I do any form of cardio exercise, which is another great way to drop water weight. Sure crunches help, but a cardio sweatiest is golden. Since I have a lot of abdominal fat, crunches and planks and abdominal exercises won't help as much in visibly reducing bloat for me. But, they do give you a feeling of having a tight core, which also helps.
4. Drop the carbs
I've read in several magazines that eating a lot of carbs causes water weight retention....which leads to bloating. So, I'm also hoping to cut down my carb intake to less than 150g per day. I'm finding that to be easier said than done however, since I'm out of my apartment for most of the day and don't have a fridge to keep food in during my rotations. Most perishable snacks tend to be carbohydrate-rich, which can be a problem. I have found that nuts are great snacks though full of protein and healthy fats and tend to hold me over for a long long time. Plus, the Babybel prepackaged cheeses also hold up well in my lunch sack. I'm hoping to stock up on these healthy, low-carb snacks and munch on those in between my rotations instead of grabbing a granola bar or pretzels.
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